Palmetto Extract: Ineffective Prostate Cure

Palmetto Extract: Ineffective Prostate Cure

A U.S. study revealed Tuesday that herbal supplement widely sold throughout the United States and Europe has been found out not to relieve urinary symptoms for men with enlarged prostate. The herbal supplement, saw palmetto extract, has an estimated global market value of almost $700 million per year. The study revealed that over the counter herbal supplement does not work nor harm patients after a randomized trial and testing conducted by a group of researchers at 11 North American sites despite increasing the dosage three times for each patient.

Claus Roehrborn, Univ. of Texas Southwestern urology chairman, said that despite tripling the dosage for the herbal supplement, there are no measurable effects on patients either in toxicity or in benefits.  These herbal supplements are not doing anything beyond and above the so called placebo effect. The group of researchers led by Michael Barry from Boston, Massachusetts had closely monitored 379 men with ages raging from 45 and above with symptoms such as weak and frequent urination, having difficulty in emptying their bladders as part of the experimentation group.

The randomized trial has been conducted by the group of researchers which divided the group of men where some had to use the popular herbal supplement made from saw palmetto extract from the berries of a dwarf plant tree, the saw palmetto, while other men were given pills that tasted and smelled the same. The dosage has been increased over the 72 week experimentation period but unfortunately, the supplement did not gave any measurable improvement and no changes at all on the patients such as improve sexual performance, allow patients to sleep better, improve nighttime incontinence or urination.

Posted by George Daniels on Thursday September 29 2011, 6:30 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0